Automatic welt turning apparatus



. March 18, w. G. MACDONALD ETAL AUTOMATIC WELT TURNING APPARATUS 'Filed Feb. 14,1944 Z Sheetss-Sheet 1 I v I nventor;

March 18, 1947.

w. G. MACDONALD ETAL AUTOMATIC WELT TURNING APPARATUS Filed F'b. 14,1944 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Patented Mar. 1s 1947 i a, 2,417,509

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE 2,417,509 AUToMATIc WELT TURNING APPARATUS William Gordon Macdonald and William Arthur Cooper, Loughborough, England, assignors to William Cotton Limited, Loughborough, England Application February 14, 1944, Serial No. 522,328

In Great Britain July..9, 1943 3 Claims. (Cl. 66.-96)

This invention concerns Cottons patentand In Figure 1, only those parts are shown that other straight bar knitting machines equipped are relevant to the present invention, including with automatic welt-turning apparatus. As is a welt bar I ll movable horizontally towards and well known in such machines the welt-turning away from the needles I I. The machine also has apparatus consists of a welt bar equipped with a beam roller 12 mounted on a beam roller shaft instruments which engage an initial course of i3 rotatable in bearings such as 40 and carrying the welt and draw the welt fabric away from the straps, l4 which may be attached to a welt rod needles to a predetermined extent. A Welt rod I 5 placed, manually or automatically, on the top is then inserted and is connected by straps to a of the welt fabric F at the appropriate stage in beam roller which is biased y a weight to turn its production so that by rotation by the beam in such a direction as will cause the fabric to be shaft l3 a bight of the welt fabric is drawn, bedrawn off by the welt rod. The welt bar is then neath the welt bar ill, the latter being then adadvanced to the needles to restore the initial vanced towards the needles H to restore the iniwelt course to them. tial Welt course to them. It will be understood Accordin to the present invention in a Cotthat in the case of a multi division machine there tons patent or other straight bar knitting mais a we1t bar and a beam roller to each division, chine'of the type equipped with automatic weltsaid rollers being mounted on a common shaft. turning p a us including a well; bar movable The foregoing apparatus is well understood n away from the needle during the production of the art and needs no further illustration or deat least a rt of the welt fabric and towards Scription, i

the needles to restore the we1t to them, and with The beam shaft I3 is biased to rotate in a draw-'- biased draw-off apparatus for connection to a off direction, preferably by a weight l6 which welt rod, there is provided mechanism for reoperates througha pulley I l, in known manner,

laXing the pull of the said apparatus during the theseparts, and the strap M, are shown in ch in said advance of the welt bar. In a machine dotted lines in Figs. 1 and 2 because they lie to wherein the draw-off apparatus comprising a the left of line A'-A, Fig. 3; and the desirability shaft or other rotary member biased to rotate of removing the draw-off tension from the fabin a draw-off direction there may be a coupling ric during the aforesaid advance of the we1t bar which idles during said draw-off rotation and [0 will therefore be appr Toeefiectthis mechanism for operating said coupling to rotate tension release a pawl a ratchet mechanism said member in the reverse direction at the re- (indicated generally by the numeral l8 in Fig. quired time. This coupling may comprise a 1 and shown in more detail in Figs. 2 and 3? is ratchet wheel for transmitting said reverse romounted on the beam shaft. This mechanism tation to the shaft or other rotary member, a comprises a ratchet wheel l9 secured to the said pawl carrier rotatable about the axis of the ratchshaft I3 to rotate it in the reverse direction, a. et wheel, a pawl on the carrier, a device for holdpawl carrier 20 rotatable about the shaft but staing the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet tionary during draw-off rotation of roller [2, wheel, and means for moving it into engagement and a pawl 2i on the carrier for engagement upon rotation of the carrier. with the ratchet wheel I9. This pawl 2| is nor- The foregoing and other features of the inven- 4o mally held out of engagement with the wheel l9. tion are incorporated in the construction which but is only moved into driving engagement when will now be described, as an example of the apthe said reverse rotation is applied to the carplication of the invention to a Cottons patent rier 20. For this purpose a stationary bluff 22 knitting machine having automatic welt-turning i provided which, in one attitude of the carrier apparatus, with reference to the accompanying 20, bluffs the pawl 2|. The latter has a p j drawings n Wh h tion 23 which is engaged beneath a chain or the Figure 1 is a sectional view taken in a vertical like flexible connection 24 that has one end sep a e at right angles to the length of the macured to the carrier 20 at 25; said chain 24 1s chine adjacent to the right hand end thereof on wrapped round the carrier 20 and has its other 1711611118 in end secured at 26 to a truck lever 21 hereinafter Fig. 2 is a sectional elevation, on a larger scale, mentioned. When the chain 24 is pulled the taken on the line A--A in Fig. 3, showing certain carrier 20 is rotated to move the pawl 2| off the parts of the mechanism; bluff 22 and at the same time the chain 24 tight- Fig. 3 is a front elevation of the parts shown ens over the projection 23 and the pawl moves n inwards, as soon as the bluff P rmits, i engagement with the ratchet wheel l9 so that the latter is rotated to apply the necessary reverse rotation to the beam shaft I3. At the extremity of this rotary movement the pawl 2| may, if desired, again engage the bluff 22 so as to be disengaged from the ratchet wheel. The carrier 20 is thereupon returned and the chain 24 wound up by means of a return spring 24a. If desired, the pawl may be urged out of engagement with the ratchet wheel by means of a spring which is overcome by the constrictive pressure of the chain on the aforesaid projection. The bluff 22 may be adjustable about the axis of the carrier 20 so as to provide an adjustment for the timing of the reverse rotation, suitable adjustment means being indicated at 31.

The chain 24 is pulled by means of a horizontal truck lever 21 pivoted at one end 28 to a suitable part 29 of the machine frame, and carrying a truck 30 adapted to engage a cam 3i on a shaft 32 which extends parallel to and is connected .to rotate at the samespeed as the main shaft 33, the driving connections being indicated. at 34. In order that the pullmay be applied to the. chain 24 at the appropriate phase in the knitting operations, the said truck 30 is shogged into and out of engagement with the cam 3| by mean of fork 36 and patterning mechanism 38 which may comprise one cam disc of a series of cam discs 39 on the known disc shaft 35 located at the back of the machine .to control various operations of the automatic welt-turning apparatus.

We claim:

1. In a straight bar knitting machine of the kind equipped with automatic welt-turning apparatus including a welt bar movable away from the needles during the production of at least a part of the welt fabric and towards them to turn the welt, and with biassed draw-01f apparatus for connection to a welt rod; a mechanism for relaxing the pull of the said apparatus during said advance of the welt bar, comprising a rotary draw-off member biassed to rotate in a draw-off direction, a ratchet wheel for transmitting reverse rotation to said, member to relax the draw-off pull, a pawl carrier rotatable about the axis of the ratchet wheel, a pawl on the carrier for driving the ratchet wheel, a device for holding the pawl-out of engagement with said wheel, means for moving the pawl into engagement with said .4 wheel upon rotation of the carrier, and means for rotating said carrier to apply reverse rotation to said member at the required time.

2. In a machine according to claim 1, a flexible pull connection wrapped round the carrier to rotate it, a bluff for holding the pawl out of engagement with the ratchet wheel until the carrier is rotated by the pull connection, and a part on the pawl engaged under said connection whereby a pull on the connection urges the pawl towards engagement with the ratchet.

3. In a Cottons patent knitting machine equipped with automatic welt-turning apparatus including a welt bar movable away from the needles during the production of at least a part of the welt fabric and towards them to turn the welt, and with biassed draw-ofi apparatus for connection to a welt rod; a mechanism for relaxing the pull of said apparatus on the welt rod during approach of the welt bar to the needles,

comprising a.rotary draw-off member for con- I nection to the welt rod, biassing means for biassing it to turn in a draw-off direction, a coupling for rotating it in the reverse direction and for idling during draw-off rotation and comprising a part which is rotatable about an axis during said reverse rotation but is stationary during draw-off rotation of said member, a rotary cam, a camoperated member movable thereby, a cam follower on the last said member for engaging the cam,

pattern-controlled means for bringing the cam and follower into and out of operative register, and a connection between the cam-operated member and the aforesaid part for turning the latter about the said axis to apply the reverse rotation to the draw-off member.

WILLIAM GORDON MACDONALD. WILLIAM ARTHUR COOPER.

REFERENCES CITED The following references are of record in the file of this patent:

UNITED STATES PATENTS Number Name Date 2,303,412 Wachtler Dec. 1, 1942 2,305,335 Wilders Dec. 15, 1942 1,878,868 Lieberknecht Sept. 20, 1932 2,363,000 Hofmann Nov. 21, 1944 

